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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Well, exactly one year ago today, I had a 2.5 inch incision cut into my lower abdomen, had my inguinal nerve removed and a square piece of gortex mesh stitched into my fascia to repair what’s known as a sports hernia.

Everything feels great and I’m just thankful that all has gone well and I’ve been able to return to training at a high level!

Since my season ended in August, I’ve been pretty bad/lazy about updating my blog, so a lot has happened since then. Stick with me and I’ll try to keep it brief!

At the end of August I went up to Midland, Ontario (a couple of hours North of Toronto) to do some archaeology work with my brother. The first week or so wasn’t too bad, as I was still in downtime after the season. After that, things weren’t too much fun. I was working 10 hr shifts, which had me leaving the apartment at about 7am and returning at 6pm, depending on how far we had to drive (one day it was Windsor and back, 15hr day!). The work itself wasn’t exactly easy either; hauling a 40lb awkward wooden screen through vines, thorn bushes, poison ivy and dense forest while getting attacked by mosquitoes and digging holes every 10 meters to screen the dirt for artifacts.

Some days definitely sucked.

When I got home, it was time to kick off the work boots, throw on some running shoes and get out the door for 7 or 8 miles before it got too dark. I wouldn’t exactly call it ideal for training. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

It wasn’t all bad though. The snowmobile trails up north are great for doing mileage runs in the summer/fall and it was certainly nicer running than being in Scarborough. We also found a few cool artifacts along the way and a previously undiscovered Huron Indian village.

I worked there until the end of October when I finally got to head south. Perfect timing. Just as the weather was getting cold in Ontario, it had cooled off to ideal running weather in Arizona…I arrived in Scottsdale for the start of our first structured training cycle of the upcoming year. Without all the work, it was certainly easier to train harder and recover properly.

My first weekend down here, Mel and I made the trip up to the Grand Canyon for the first time. I proposed while we were up there (in case she said no, then I could throw her off) and she said “Yes”. Well, actually, she said “Are you serious?” a couple of times before saying yes! Haha. So, I’m engaged.

We went back to celebrate in Flagstaff for the night with my teammates Ellerton and Lisa. Instead of drinking champagne, we played flip cup and quarters. Keepin it classy.

I’ve settled in to a good routine down here now and we’re halfway through our second 3 week training cycle and things are going great. Workouts have been solid and the mileage is building.

I’ll hopefully have a more in depth “running” update in the next few days…

I was a Varsity athlete at Penn State for 5 years. I was also a teacher and coach in the State College community. The crimes that were committed by Jerry Sandusky were repulsive and disgusting acts of humanity; the most heinous of crimes that you can commit. It’s upsetting to know that there are people in the world like this, let alone to find out they are a part of the Penn State family. The fact that it was able to go on for so long makes it even worse…

Success With Honor.

This has long been the motto of Penn State Athletics and the Penn State community as a whole. Joe Paterno is the person who started this. He has always preached doing things the right way; that being successful in the classroom and as a human being were more important than winning. He has one of the best football graduation rates in the country and the second most academic All-Americans in FBS history. He has given back his own money and dedicated his life to making Penn State and its community a better place.

Could he/should he have done more? The answer is most definitely yes.

However, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy for us to say that. Had his superiors done what they were supposed to at the time, it would have been enough.

The lack of action throughout the entire athletic department/university is shameful. Why Mike McQueary didn’t act immediately is something I will never understand. To see what he saw and walk away from it to make a phone call is absurd. You are about 6’3 and 220. Go knock Sandusky’s ass out…Do something! He should not be on the sidelines Saturday while JoePa sits at home.

It really is upsetting to see how poorly Penn State is being portrayed through all this because of the acts of several brainless/disturbed individuals. That is not who We Are…

For all those who aren’t Penn Staters, it might be difficult to understand the passion, dedication and pride with which we speak about our Institution. It’s difficult to express in words how Penn State becomes ingrained as part of you…I’m saddened that this is how you will come to know and speak about the place we are so fond of.

Penn State is so much more than Joe Paterno, Tim Curley or the football team.

We Are…ranked among the top 15 public universities. We Are…the largest student-run philanthropy in the world (raising 78 million for the kids). We Are...over 8,500 top-ranked faculty. We Are…Olympians. We Are…Nobel prize winners. We Are…one of the top research universities in the country. We Are…44,000 other employees. We are 570,000 alumni.

We Are….PennState.

I’m not defending the tragedy or actions/in-actions that took place, but, I will always be PennState proud.